perspective at the moment

Hello…

So I wanted to reach out and just say hello, let you all know I am still alive! No, I haven’t completely given up on my blog here. I have been working a crazy schedule at work. Not more hours, I only work 32, that is four nights a week. The thing has been that my days have been different every week. That way I end up working 5 or 6 nights in a row, so it feels like I am working full-time, because then I get 2 or 3 nights off and go back again. This past couple of weeks my schedule was to work 5 nights, then have 2 off, then work 1, then 1 off, the work 1, then 1 off, then work 2, blah, blah, blah.

I finally went to my boss on Monday morning. I will call her W. I told her I couldn’t handle the schedule. I let her know that if I could work full-time hours I would be working full-time. I also let her know that I am coming off of disability and that I haven’t worked a job in twenty years. I thought she knew that I was on disability, but she did not. She told me they don’t tell her anything other than she has a new employee. Anyway, I asked her if she would change my schedule and she said she would. She also changed that night, Monday, for Friday, which was last night. So I just got home from work

I have a hard time speaking up for myself. I get nervous and act a bit goofy. I am still nervous, as if I am expecting something bad to happen. Like some kind of punishment. My boss won’t like me anymore, I am not as good of an employee. Those are the feelings I get.

Of course I haven’t seen this particular boss since that conversation. So that adds to my nervousness. Logically speaking, I don’t really think that my boss is not going to like me anymore. She isn’t going to judge me. What is to judge? I asked her to change my schedule and she did. That’s it.

I do have another night manager that I work with. I will call him L. The man is driving me nuts. He leaves me alone to work the infants department, then move on to what they call soft lines. Soft lines includes all clothing (other than infants) from toddlers, to girls and boys, to the women’s department and the men’s. Also, accessories, like hand bags and what not. It also includes the shoe department, but I am rarely the one to work shoes.

Soft lines is huge and it takes time to get a handle on how to go about getting as much done in as little time as possible. The general idea in soft lines is in addition to getting as much on the shelves as possible, but separating and shrinking pallets. One of the women that I work with, I will call her S. S. piles the pallets like she is putting together a jig saw puzzle. It is interesting to watch, especially since I know she likes to put together actual jig saw puzzles at home. Of course, everyone has their own way of doing things and I have to figure out mine.

There are moments when I think I should thank L. for leaving me in soft lines alone. What better way to learn than to do? Of course that is a fleeting thought. When I am in the infants department for four hours, that leaves me only four hours left to do soft lines. I am only one person. Let me just say that when I work with W. she sends me and S. to do both infants and soft lines. Sometimes S. works infants with me and then we both move on to soft lines. Sometimes she leaves me in infants and goes on ahead to soft lines. Anyway, when I only have four hours to work on soft lines and I have five pallets of clothing I get a little over whelmed. Don’t get me wrong, I am not expected to get everything on the shelf, but that is my question and everyone else’s. Why bring everything out when it isn’t possible. That has me spending time at the end of the night dragging it all back to the store-room.

Well, I guess I have complained enough. L. is really a nice guy. He laughs a lot, which is good. Oh, and once he realized that I had a ride waiting at the end of the night, he stopped trying to get me to stay late. He is always trying to get people to stay late and work more!

One of the reasons that things are the way they are is that we are short handed. They have hired some people for the day time, but as of yet have found no one that wants to work the night shift. I have to admit, it is a tough shift to work, but we get paid a dollar and a half more on that shift, which I like.

I like a lot of things about the night shift. I never have to go to work on a sunny day for one thing. I don’t miss out on any fishing in the middle of the night. Of course my sleep schedule taken into account and the amount of rainy days we have been having, I haven’t really seen all that much of the sun. We would like to go fishing tomorrow, if only the weather is good.

Well, I guess I said hello and a whole lot more.

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9 thoughts on “Hello…”

Hello to you too! Kudos to you for so many reasons! You stuck with the job despite some negatives – You were strong enough to ask for a change in schedule… and you got it! You are doing work (nights) that so many would not be prepared to do! You recognize some idiosyncrasies in their system, but continue working anyway.
I really believe that the perfect job simply does not exist, but at least by expressing yourself, and giving your employer some latitude in their processes, can make it quite tolerable and perhaps even enjoyable occasionally!
Keep it up! Keep smiling! 🙂

Sometimes it does yes. I talked to my boss last night and she says my schedule will stay this way for the most part, so that is good. I think the rest of it is going to have to be me not stressing over it. I can’t change it, just do what I can. Thanks for the comment.